Mother of slain daughter reaches out to victim families

In this 2009 file photo, Jeanette Chavez wipes away tears as she talks about her daughter after a press conference in which California Assemblyman Mike Eng donated $500 to "The Unity and Peace Sammantha Salas Scholarship Fund" in El Monte on March 20, 2009. Sammantha Salas was fatally shot in an unincorporated area of Monrovia on Jan. 26, 2008. Chavez and her family set up the scholarship fund in memory of her daughter. (Photo by Keith Durflinger/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

PASADENA >> Jeanette Chavez’s daughter Sammantha was just 16 when she was gunned down in unincorporated Monrovia in 2008, and Chavez’s road to seeking justice did little to help her recovery process.

Like when Chavez was in the hospital after she just found out her daughter had been shot to death, and the nurses told Chavez to hush or she’d be escorted out, Chavez said. Or like when she went to every single hearing related to her daughter’s slaying, and the family of the shooters would make snide comments to Chavez. A little girl related to the accused even approached her and started smacking at Chavez’s knee.

“It’s just horrible,” Chavez said. “Victims’ families need to be treated from the beginning to the end, and DAs need to communicate with their victim’s families. There needs to be a more open line of communication. There needs to be justice. When you solve the case, you’re not only bringing justice to the victim’s families, you’re bringing justice to the community.”

After Sammantha’s death, Chavez joined Justice for Homicide Victims, became advisory chairwoman to the board, and then a member of the board of directors in 2010, and has since helped many grieving Southland families — “hundreds, for damn sure” — through the sometimes murky waters they must wade to seek justice.

“I don’t want other families going through the garbage I went through,” Chavez said.

Now, Chavez has a reputation in the San Gabriel law enforcement community — if officials know she’s coming, you better make sure everything is done fairly, respectfully and above all, correctly, Chavez said, wiggling her eyebrows.

According to fellow executive board member LaWanda Hawkins, Chavez is a “court angel.”

Hawkins said. “She will go against anyone, and I mean anybody, when it comes to victims and their rights. When she thinks somebody in the courtroom is not being done right, oh buddy...”

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Most recently, Chavez and the rest of Justice for Homicide Victims helped ensure proper justice for the family of Richard Hernandez, who was beaten and stabbed in 1982 at the age of 20. Gilbert Lean, 52, and Marcelino Diablos Corona, 50, were finally convicted — on Dec. 4, 31 years later. Chavez provided the family with the support and knowledge to ensure they were going into the trials with the proper knowledge of protocol and how the court system works.

“We’re not attorneys. We’re not sure what we can do. It’s kind of or scary,” said Audry McDonald, Hernandez’s cousin. “Janette came in and said, ‘You can do this; You can do this; You can do this,’”

“Had it not been for her and the great judge we had, these guys would have been out of jail in a couple of years,” McDonald added.